Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Feeling extra busy at this time of the year? Rushing around, end of year school functions, Christmas parties to go to, making sure you at least start a Christmas shopping list, etc, etc.
Whilst trying to keep a peaceful smile – not just on your face – but in your heart.  This is where “the rubber meets the road” as they say.
Am I a peaceful, encouraging, trusting person who does not let stress get to me?
For as it says in scripture: “Do not worry what to wear… do not worry about tomorrow, for today has enough worry of its own.” “In ALL things trust in God.”
Jesus came into this world to give us peace and, as he was leaving his disciples, he reiterated this: “And peace I leave with you.”
May we extend this peace to all we meet in this “busy stressful” time of Christmas.
And most importantly be peaceful within yourself.

In the coming weeks we will transition to End of Year Celebrations. This time of the year is such a mixture of emotions for so many people. Please watch and listen to your children carefully as these emotions can often get the better of children who are already getting very tired. Keep your child’s teacher informed of any concerns you have and give your children a rest if you think this will help them.

Our teachers are writing End of Year Reports at the moment. This report will provide you and your child a summary of their learning for the 2022 academic year. This always requires an extra amount of effort from already tired teachers and so we will watch out for them as well.

I am grateful to work in a community where we watch out for each other, offer support where necessary and celebrate together.  I am looking forward to following school celebrations that will take place over the next few weeks:

– Grandparents Day Wednesday 30 November
– End of Year Concert Friday 2 December at 6pm
– Thanksgiving and Graduation Ceremony Tuesday 6 December at 9am
– Year 6 Graduation Dinner Thursday 8th December

Annual Community Meeting
Our Annual Community Meeting is just around the corner and will be held on Tuesday 22 November at 6pm in the Learning Hub. Our School Advisory Council and Parents & Friends of St John’s are always looking for new members. If you would like to nominate for any of these roles or to find out more information, please visit our school office or click on the link: NOMINATION FORM

Nomination forms for the Advisory Council were emailed last week and all nominations received will be presented at the ACM. We certainly welcome interest from current family members and value the contributions that existing members have made in working together in supporting the school leadership as we strive for excellence across all areas of our school community.

If you are willing to consider being a part of any of these teams, I would be happy to talk with you about what is required.

School Parents & Friends Executive
The P&F is led by a volunteer group of parents, each of whom are elected to office bearer positions. These are the P&F Executive members. At each ACM the P&F Executive Committee stands aside. Therefore, we are seeking nominations from interested community members who have the desire and time to devote to P&F meetings and functions.

Conditions for membership of the P&F Executive are:
– A commitment and desire to promote Catholic education and to give service to the school;
– A commitment to the safety, well-being and pastoral care of all students and staff;
– An ability to work cooperatively and constructively with the Principal, school leadership team, the School Advisory Council and other members of the P&F
– A sufficiency of time to devote to School Advisory Council duties.

All parents of enrolled students at the school are considered general members of the P&F. Friends are persons connected to the school community who do not have children enrolled at the school and are considered associate members.
If you are interested in nominating for membership of the P&F Executive, current Committee members will be happy to discuss their role with you. A nomination form is available from the school office as well as clicking on the link: NOMINATION FORM
Nominations for the P&F Executive close on Monday 21 November at 3pm.

Year Six Camp
Congratulations to all Year 6 students on an outstanding camp last week. It was a pleasure to attend with such a caring and responsible group of students. They should be very proud of how they conducted themselves and how they represented themselves, their families and the school. It was a wonderful 3 days of adventure, challenges, celebrations and friendship. Thank you to all staff who attended to provide our students with this opportunity. I’m sure the experiences at Fairbridge Camp will be memories our Year Six students will cherish for a lifetime.

Remembrance Day
We held a special ceremony on Monday morning to remember all those who have died in war. Our Year Five students along with Mr Alonzo led the school in a prayerful liturgy service to keep alive the memories of those who laid down their lives for the sacred cause of freedom.

Our hearts also extend to all those around the world right now who are being impacted by war and conflict. It is hard to imagine living in a world where it is not safe to go to school and living in constant fear. The conflict in Ukraine has now gone for over 240 days and there are many others areas of the world experiencing the terror of war. We pray for peace around the world.

Swimming Lessons
What a beautiful day our Pre-Primary to Year 2 students have had this week for their swimming lessons! Congratulations to all the students for their wonderful efforts not just at swimming but travelling on the bus, changing and looking after their belongings. Well Done! Swimming lessons will continue into Week 7 with the final swimming classes being held on Friday 25 November.

Welcome to our new families
We warmly welcome 2 new families to our St John’s community – Gabriel in Kindy and JP in our Year 5 class.

Fire & Lockdown Drills
As part of compliance and for the safety of all, it is important that schools regularly conduct fire and lockdown drills. This process allows school staff to ensure that planning for such an event is effective and allows students to be familiar with processes should there be an emergency. The school would like to inform parents that a drill will be held at some point next week.

End of Year School Reports
School reports will be made available at the end of this semester. Please check your SEQTA log in details so you are able to access them when they are released. For new families this semester, please contact the office to provision an account.

Changes to 2023 Booklists
Bulk book order lists will be ordered by our class teachers for 2023. No formal booklists will be sent home this year from Kindy to Year 6. All items will be delivered to the school during January. Booklist levies will be included on the school fees for 2023. Parents will receive a stationery items list in the coming weeks.

WA Term Dates for 2023 are:
Term 1 : 1 February – 6 April 2023
Term 2 : 24 April  – 30 June
Term 3 : 17 July – 22 September
Term 4 : 9 October – 8 December

St Vincent de Paul Society Christmas Food Hamper Appeal
Over the next three weeks, we are asking for donations of non-perishable food items that can be donated to the St Vincent De Paul Christmas Appeal. In the past, St John’s School Community has responded to this need very well indeed. Every class will have their own basket where donations can be placed. Thank you for your support

You can assist by donating these items into your classroom donation box:
KINDY & PRE-PRIMARY – Canned food such as tinned fruit, beans, vegetables, tuna, soup
YEAR 1 – UHT (long life) milk, juice or custard, cordial
YEAR 2 – Breakfast items such as cereal, milo, tea or coffee, spreads such as jam, honey or vegemite
YEAR 3 – Pasta sauces, stir through sauces, tomato or bbq sauce, mayonnaise, mustard
YEAR 4 – Pasta, rice or noodles, biscuits
YEAR 5 – Crackers, muesli bars, chips, Christmas cakes or biscuits
YEAR 6 – Christmas items such as bonbons, napkins, candy canes, lollies or chocolates

Wishing you all a wonderful week.

God Bless

Velma Erskine
Principal

What’s happening….?

Grandparents Day

Wednesday 30 November is Grandparents Day at St John’s! Mass starting at with mass at 9.00am at the church and followed by a visit to the classrooms. Morning Tea will be served to the grandparents after the classroom visits. To book your granparents in follow the link: https://www.trybooking.com/CDPHO

Raise your Voice 2022

Today our Year 5 and 6 students visited St Dominic’s in Innaloo for the Annual Raise Your Voice Competition.  Our students prepared the most amazing passion speeches and presented these to a large audience of students, judges, staff and parents.  We are so proud of our competitors and Kanye received 1^st place and Amelie 2^nd place for the Year 5 competition and Zachary 1^st place for Year 6.

Year 2 Excursion to the Art Gallery

Year 6 Graduation Fundraiser-Thursday 24 November

Book Stall –  Thursday 24 November 
The Year 6’s are organising a Book Stall which will be held before school
All books sold for $1.00-$2.00each

Recess Treats – Thursday 24 November 
At recess the Year 6 Parents will sell strawberry and marshmallow kebabs at recess for $1.00 each from the school canteen.

Congratulations

SSWA – Athletics
Some of St John’s finest athletes were invited to compete in the School Sport WA Primary Champion Schools Track and Field event. Following a long, cold evening, two of our students performed magnificently well to take home some medals. Ella (Year 4) won the Bronze medal in the 400m and Ciana (Year 6) won Gold in both the Turbo Javelin and Shot Put.
U12 State Cricket Team
Congratulations to Indi (Year 6) who qualified for the WA U12’s State Cricket Team and is off to Victoria very soon to play cricket representing WA.

An amazing achievement that all three girls can be extremely proud of.

Jump Rope for Heart

Thank you to ALL the students who got involved with Jump Rope for Heart!

A huge thank you for the effort skipping and fundraising for the Jump Rope for Heart program this term. Together we raised an incredible $1772 and this money will all go towards vital heart research and education programs.
We’ve loved seeing so many smiling faces skipping undercover and in sports lessons, plus some keen skippers who are still going this term!

Congratulations to our top fundraisers who will receive their prizes soon! Keep up the skipping and thanks again for the hard work!

First Communion and Confirmation Photos

We have been advised by Kapture Photography that all sports and/or special team photos taken this year including Holy Communion & Confirmation photos are still available for purchase. These images will be removed from their website at the end of this term in readiness for next year’s photography.

This is your last chance to view and purchase these photographs. Please visit www.kapture.com.au using our school code; MYABUB

This code can also be used to purchase class or individual photographs should you have missed out earlier in the year.

Parish Playgroup